Oh Sis, You’re Pregnant! is the go-to guide for modern pregnant Black women. In this newly updated edition in a lovely giftable package, mothers-to-be will find the sister-to-sister guidance and expert insight on pregnancy, labor, and motherhood that readers have praised, cherished, and lived by for years.

This book is the essential “what to expect when you're expecting” guide to understanding pregnancy from a millennial Black mom’s point of view. Written by Black Moms Blog founder Shanicia Boswell Jones, this book tackles hard topics in a way that truly resonates with today’s Black moms-to-be.

You’ll find answers to questions on how to financially plan for birth, how to maintain relationships and friendships during motherhood, and how to self-advocate for your rights as a pregnant Black person. With stories and lessons learned from the author's own experiences through pregnancy, labor, and motherhood, Oh Sis, You’re Pregnant! also includes interviews with professionals like OBGYNs, midwives, nutritionists, and lactation consultants. It focuses on the common knowledge Black pregnant mothers should consider when having their first baby, while also sharing topics beneficial to pregnant Black women on their second, third, or fourth-born.

If you’re looking for a pregnancy guide that speaks to your experience, Oh Sis, You’re Pregnant is the book for you!

Join us for our monthly book club. Our August pick The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Secret Lives.

Book club will happen Wednesday, August 31 at 7:00 PM in the Kindred Stories Reading Garden. RSVP required. See ya'll there!

About the Book

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions.

There is fourteen-year-old Jael, who has a crush on the preacher’s wife. At forty-two, Lyra realizes that her discomfort with her own body stands between her and a new love. As Y2K looms, Caroletta’s “same time next year” arrangement with her childhood best friend is tenuous. A serial mistress lays down the ground rules for her married lovers. In the dark shadows of a hospice parking lot, grieving strangers find comfort in each other.

With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be.

Celebrate the release of Nasty Work with Ericka Hart!

EVENT DEETS

When: Thursday, April 16 @ 7PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St. Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming.

Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When you think about sex ed, your mind likely goes back to those uncomfortable school desks and the stifled laughs of your teenage years. But what we’ve been socialized to believe about sexuality actually hinders our own pleasure well into adulthood. Whether we know it or not, even the most progressive among us are often using 400-year-old inherited thoughts and belief systems in the twenty-first century. Why are we still carrying forth these ancient values that have never served the vast majority? 

As a Black, queer, non-binary, disabled femme, Ericka Hart believes that sex ed done right can actually be a tool for liberation. In Nasty Work, she breaks down the ways that social implications keep us from experiencing pleasure, particularly for marginalized communities across race, gender, sexuality, and ability, and how we can dismantle these oppressive myths. From examining what guides our attraction to others to the history of consent, Ericka Hart takes the blinders off and reveals a more empowering view of sex and sexuality.

Nasty Work blends eye-opening research with powerful, poignant personal narrative that disrupts everything you thought you knew about sex and society; offering a liberatory framework that makes pleasure accessible for all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ericka Hart, M.Ed. (she/they) has been teaching comprehensive, trauma informed, consent- and pleasure-based sex ed at the elementary, high school, undergraduate and graduate levels for the past 15 years and is now the founder of her own sexuality education training program, Sex Ed as Resistance. She is the co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast, Hoodrat to Headwrap with her partner Ebony and is mom to East Francis Coltrane (and cockapoo Baguette).

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative, a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their on their own terms, in their own communities. He is the co-host of Reckon True Stories with Deesha Philyaw. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.

Celebrate the release of City Summer, Country Summer with Kiese Laymon!

EVENT DEETS

When: Sunday, April 6 @ 2PM

Where: 2304 Stuart Street, HTX, 77004

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our store programming

ABOUT THE BOOK

A lyrical picture book from the award-winning author of Heavy, about three Black boys who form a deep connection during a transformative summer trip down South to visit family.

On the ground of that garden, covered in vegetables and dirt, coated in laughter, I want to say that the Mississippi and New York in our Black boy bodies were indistinguishable.

Three Black boys spend one special summer exploring the Mississippi woods and woulds and coulds of sharing the kind of freeing friendship that is love.

Watched over and given space to discover by Grandmama and Mama Lara, New York, Country, and little C find camaraderie in their contrasts and all the unspoken things between them while playing games of marco polo in the thick garden and sledding on cardboard by the underpass. 

With text brimming with love by award-winning author Kiese Laymon and deeply evocative illustrations by Ashley Franklin, City Summer, Country Summer illuminates the tenuous and tender bonds of friendship Black boys forge with one another.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative, a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their on their own terms, in their own communities. He is the co-host of Reckon True Stories with Deesha Philyaw. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.

*ships in 7 -10 business days*

A stunning, contemporary Black southern gothic novel about what it means to be a poor woman in the God fearing south in the age of OnlyFans, by a breakout new Affrilachian writer, perfect for readers of The Other Black Girl and Luster

Magnolia Brown is nineteen years old, broke, and effectively an orphan. She feels stuck and haunted: by her overdrawn bank account, her predatory landlord, and the ghost of her late grandmother Mama Brown.

One night, while working at her dead-end gas station job, a mysterious, slick stranger named Cotton walks in and offers to turn Magnolia’s luck around with a lucrative “modeling” job at his family’s funeral home. She accepts. But despite things looking up, Magnolia’s problems fatten along with her wallet. When Cotton’s requests become increasingly weird, Magnolia discovers there’s a lot more at stake than just her rent.

Sharp as a belted knife, this sly social commentary cuts straight to the bone. House of Cotton will keep you mesmerized until the very last page.

New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory makes her highly-anticipated young adult debut with a Dirty Dancing-inspired contemporary romcom!

It's the summer before her senior year of high school and Kat (Kitty to her family) planned to spend it reading good books, working on her college applications, and enjoying her independence. Instead, she's stuck for an entire month with her family at a camp in the desert in Southern California.

When she stumbles across a staff party on the first night, she's jealous of their joyful, uninhibited dancing. She hasn't danced like that since two years ago, when she was forced to quit ballet, which she once loved more than anything. She's determined to leave dance where it belongs -- the past.

But Jordan, the handsome and magnetic hip-hop dance instructor, keeps dragging it into her present. As Kat begins sneaking around and lying to her parents to spend time with Jordan, she'll have to ask herself -- what is she willing to risk to finally feel free? And is it possible her feelings for Jordan could reignite her love for dance?

Celebrate the release of No Sense in Wishing with Lawrence Burney!

EVENT DEETS

When: Friday July 10 @ 6 PM CST

Where: Kindred Stories (2310 Elgin St, Houston, TX 77004)

How: RSVP ONLY to reserve your seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to grab your copy of No Sense In Wishing, support the author and our store programming.

Please note outside copies of the book will not be allowed in the bookstore and you will not be eligible for the signing/photo line. You must buy a book from Kindred Stories 

ABOUT THE BOOK

A personal and analytical essay collection from culture critic Lawrence Burney that is a personal and analytical look at his home city of Baltimore, music from throughout the global Black diaspora, and the traditions that raised him.

There are moments in our lives when we discover an artist, an album, a film, or a cultural artifact that leaves a lasting impression. These moments inform how we understand the world, and ourselves, moving forward.

In a time when music is spurring Black Americans’ connection with Africans on the Continent, culture critic Lawrence Burney takes us on a journey from the streets of Baltimore to the concert halls of Lagos, reminisces on seeing his mother perform as the opening act of a Gil Scott-Heron show when he was a child, and sits at a Maryland crab feast with family, assessing how the Black people in his home state have historically improvised paths for their liberation. Burney explores these profound interactions with incisive and energizing prose, offering us a personal and critical perspective on the people, places, music, and art that transformed him.

No Sense in Wishing is a kaleidoscopic exploration of Burney’s search for self. With its gutsy and uncompromising criticism alongside intimate personal storytelling, this “powerful collection of essays” (Rolling Stone) is like an album that hits all the right notes, from a promising writer on the rise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lawrence Burney is a writer, editor, critic, and the founder of True Laurels, an independent magazine covering Baltimore’s music and culture scene. His work has appeared in publications such as New York Magazine, GQ, Washington Post and Pitchfork. He has also worked as an editor at The Fader, a staff writer at VICE, and an editor/reporter at The Baltimore Banner. His first book, No Sense in Wishing, a collection of essays, was published in July 2025 via Atria Books. His second book, Sing Back To Me, will also be published by Atria Books. Follow him on Instagram and X @TrueLaurels.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard.

Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative, a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their on their own terms, in their own communities. He is the co-host of Reckon True Stories with Deesha Philyaw. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.

Welcome to so-tiny-you'll-blink-and-miss-it town of Elaine for Christmas.

SUNDAY

Just days before Christmas, Sunday Conklin is on the brink of losing everything-her family's scenic farm-in the heart of her small Arkansas town. It's the legacy she's given up her life to protect. With the bank out of mercy and her options gone, her family's oldest enemy, the Adlers, will finally take the Conklin Fields for themselves. But a miracle arrives-one that could save Sunday, her neighbors, and the historic town of Elaine itself. There's just one problem: that miracle comes tangled up with the most infuriating man she's ever met... who belongs right back in Texas where he came from.

SEVEN

Seven Hardcastle can't believe his luck this Christmas, when he's assigned to a middle-of-nowhere Arkansas town. He's ready to return to his perfectly manicured life in Dallas with his wife and kids. All he needs is one signature-Sunday Conklin's. But when the town of Elaine strikes it big, Seven's fate is tied up with that of its most stubborn, maddening, and undeniably magnetic farm-owner. As the town's secrets unravel, and Sunday's fight becomes his own, Seven is handed a Christmas gift he never expected... one that forces him to question his past, his future, and where home truly is.

Note: This novel has been released in both a steamy edition that includes graphic intimacy and a clean edition that fades to black and is appropriate for ages 16+. This book is the CLEAN edition.

The first monograph on the Burkinabé photographer Sanlé Sory, whose unforgettable images capture a country at the dawn of its independence

In 1957, a teenager from a small village arrived in the Burkinabé city of Bobo-Dioulasso. Struck by the importance of ID pictures in this urban setting – and impressed by the prices photographers taking them could command – he learned the trade of shooting and processing photographs. Three years later, the same year Burkina Faso gained full independence from France, seventeen-year-old Sanlé Sory opened his own photo studio, Volta Photo.

Over the following three decades, Sory became one of the most renowned photographers in West Africa, respected for documenting slices of life in a rapidly changing social and political landscape. Along with the distinctive ID photos and laid-back outtakes he captured in his own studio, Sory was a dedicated chronicler of his city’s nightlife, creating a visual record of youth culture in Burkina Faso’s early post-colonial days.

This stunning book, the first monograph on Sory’s work, features more than two hundred of his arresting black-and-white photographs, including both studio portraits and nightlife photography. The book’s imagery is complemented by insightful texts, including an essay from Sory reflecting on his life and career. Created in close collaboration with the artist, Sanlé Sory is not only an essential volume for fans and collectors, but an immersive visual journey that transports readers into the exciting, vibrant world of post-colonial West Africa.

From New York Times bestselling author Tami Charles and her son, Chris Charles, comes a soaring and poetic celebration of the beautiful minds that make us all unique!

Some days it feels like my mind doesn't work right. Mom says otherwise. "That beautiful mind is what makes you unique."

This poetry-in-motion, sing-out-loud story follows the journey of one young boy as he navigates the challenges of his constantly running, brilliantly creative, and ever-so-busy brain. From basketball to baking with grandpa, to math class, and high-scoring video game conquests, readers will see that his one-of-a-kind mind is his greatest strength, and though challenges may come, he is all the stronger for it!

From bestselling author, Tami Charles, and her son, Christopher Charles, comes a rhythmic text that will speak to any child -- and every child -- who has needed an extra second or a second chance to harness the power of their own unique gifts and limitless potential. Stunning illustrations by New York Times bestselling artist Nikkolas Smith (I Am Ruby Bridges, Born on the Water) brings to life the joy, frustration, and triumph of navigating the world as a neurodivergent child. That Beautiful Mind celebrates the power and diversity of every child’s beautiful mind, and the dynamic and prismatic way so many children think and learn.